Chronic Illness Business Owners, Your Dues Are Paid!

Okay, so this episode, I recorded the next half of this that you're going to hear, like, before I recorded this half. Don't ask me why, but when I was listening back— well, ask me why— when I was listening back, I realized I needed to ground this in how entrepreneur women and people living with chronic illness have already paid their dues in so many different ways. So I thought, let me go ahead and list the ways that you have already like paid your dues, especially as an entrepreneur, that you may not even be giving yourself— giving yourself— what's the word I'm looking for— giving yourself credit for, or the work you've done. So here are 10 ways before you hop into part 2 of this like initial rant of how you don't need, or you should stop, or you need to stop thinking you need to pay your dues in order to create success, or that you have to fight your way through because of living with chronic illness. So here are 10 ways as an entrepreneur you have already paid your dues. You have learned how to manage your health despite all of the things going on around you, despite the conditions that you've been going through. You've been going to doctor's appointments. You've been able to keep some level of a schedule and a routine together while making lifestyle adjustments. Okay, so the next thing, you have developed a strong problem-solving skill. Like, you have learned how in so many ways to be creative in your problem-solving skills. Like, I know I have. This podcast is an example of that, which is also applied in entrepreneurship. You have also learned how to prioritize your time and your energy because as chronic illness warriors, We know how important it is to prioritize, prioritize and be effective with our time because we need to be more efficient and have more harmony in the different demands that we have physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And then add on to that a business. Here's number 4. You have strong communication skills. For the first part of my journey of living with chronic illness, I don't think I had strong communication skills, but I have I definitely learned over the course of my journey how to better advocate and articulate and become an expert in communicating with doctors, family members, even people in my business, to tell them what it is that I need for helping me or what I need them to hear. Okay, so that was number 4. Number 5, this is another way you as a chronic illness warrior have already paid your dues as an entrepreneur. You have developed a strong work ethic, whether that is getting up and taking a shower and taking the taking a shower and taking a bath or making the bed or going to a job while you're in pain and still being really good at it, you have learned how to have a strong work ethic. Are some of those things kind of like trauma responses? I believe so. Like, we overwork to overcompensate for things, but that's a topic for another day. Here's number 6 of how you are already and have already paid your dues. You have developed some level of high self-awareness of your body physically in a lot of different ways. I say this all the time. I used to hate when people used to tell me, you're so sensitive. And even today when I was getting my nails done, the lady was like doing her little buffy thing and she's like, ooh, you're sensitive. I was like, mm-hmm. I smiled and I laughed because I am okay with that. And being self-aware is one of the greatest assets you can have as an entrepreneur. Again, another way you have paid your dues. Here's number 7. You have developed a deep understanding of the healthcare system to some degree. I know I do. Every time I go to a doctor's office or a hospital, half the time the nurses think I'm a nurse. No, no, ma'am. I have no desire to be a nurse, but I have learned how to navigate a healthcare system, which can be very useful when you are working in a business and you have to acquire your own healthcare or help other your contractors or your employers have healthcare and how to deal with that within a business. Okay, so number 8, you have developed a strong support network. Now, for me, this didn't happen into the last 5 years because I really didn't know and nobody was like, hey, me, I have a chronic illness warrior. But if you're listening to this episode and you happen to hear me, you've probably tapped into all these other resources that I shared with you as a chronic illness warrior to help you create a more strong supportive network. Entrepreneurs with chronic illness know how important it is to have a, um, community to help you endure and overcome different things that happen in your personal life. And that is not— that is also true in a business. You need community, you need strong networking. You guys know I talk about that all the time, and that's why we have so many amazing guests on the show, because it creates strong community collaboration. Number 9. Now we're rolling this up on number 9, and we're going to have one more after this to show you how you have already paid your dues. You have developed resilience. I know there is some, like, ifs and ands about this feeling about resilience. Like, some of us love it, some of us don't. Some of us feel like there's some ableism attached to it. But here's the point. Living with chronic illness can be difficult. I can say that. 100%, but I have developed the skill of resilience because I have been able to bounce back, keep going, pause, rest, and not feel like I'm the worst something something. And even when I do have those moments, I still bounce back. That is resilience, and every entrepreneur needs that. So these are all skills, in case you didn't know, are things that make you already have paid your dues as an entrepreneur. And here's the last one, number 10. And this is the reason why I coach, and this is the reason why I work with clients, so they can see all these beautiful things and analyze and see, like, you can use these skills as your superpower, as leverage in your business, because other people may not have experienced this in this way. And this puts you ahead of the crowd, and this is why you can charge more. This is why you can get to where you want to go faster. This is number 10. You have a unique perspective. Entrepreneurs with chronic illness have a unique perspective that can be valuable in developing products and services that address the needs of other people with similar conditions and challenges. Also, it increases your empathy and compassion, which your audience that you want to serve is looking for. Okay, so this is just kind of like a little in a bow, like before you go into the next part of this episode, little rant of like why you have already paid your dues and how you don't have to always be like pushing and hustling when you hustling your way through. So of course, as always, stay tuned for the next snippet of this episode. Welcome to She's Crafted to Thrive, a globally ranked podcast for women living with chronic illness and creatives in business. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, chronic illness warrior and photographer turned digital marketer turned award-winning coach. I love helping chronic illness warriors and creatives to live with their chronic illness and creativity as their superpower in life and business. On the show, you will hear the very stories that helped our guests, my clients, and myself to define our dream way of making money with proven strategies and marketing and mindset, all to grow a business that thrives with without sacrificing our health. So stay tuned because you'll find the inspiration and tools and the resources you need to craft a life and business that thrives. Welcome back to She's Crafted to Thrive. I'm excited to be talking about this topic because it has come up a couple different times, and I shouldn't say a couple, like hundreds of times with my clients. And it's something that I have found is a stark difference between like business coaches and gurus talking about growing a business, um, in a very generalized way that we see on, you know, content around like paying your dues. Like there's this truth— there is a little truth to this— is that a lot of entrepreneurs like start a business and are like, oh my gosh, why am I not having a client like right now and right this day, right? And so there is, um, a thought that I always think about, like, yes, we all are working towards having clients. Oftentimes, um, we have to do some work in order to to see the results. But here is where I feel like there's a, like, cognitive mindset shift weirdness that happens for chronic illness warriors that I hear when they hear, like, oh, you have to pay your dues, and why this is very conflicting inside their mind and why I wanted to create a topic about this. You and I both know, like, living with chronic illness, for a lot of us, we still probably have undiagnosed things, right? So we're constantly pushing through. Some of us have diagnoses, but for years, if you're like me, you didn't have a diagnosis, you didn't have an, a clue of what was going on. So you definitely got into a hustle or a thought process of like, I just gotta fight my way through this. And what I have found so tremendously with my clients is that that statement of like, you've got to pay your dues, and also the chronic illness thought, I gotta fight my way through, are one and the same, right? We believe that we have to work so much harder and do it so much more like than anybody else and sacrifice than anybody else that we will never stop paying our dues, quote unquote. Boat, so to speak, right? It's like I get with clients and I'm waiting, I'm hearing them saying, well, yeah, I can't do that yet. And these are clients who have been doing the business for a very long time. They have been in their craft for a very long time. They have certifications, they have awards, and their belief is twofold. They believe they still have to pay their dues, and secondly, they feel like they gotta fight their way And this thought, as chronic illness warriors, is like one of those points that makes it so much more difficult for us to succeed in our businesses because we think it's gotta be hard no matter what, right? No matter how long you've been in business. And for most of my clients that have been with me for some way, shape, or form, all of the experience that they had, that even if they're pivoting into a new business, even if they're changing into a new business, their dues are paid, right? Your dues are paid. Like you've done— you've been doing way more than people who just like decide tomorrow that they want to be an entrepreneur, right? Like you are most likely the person who listens to a podcast episode, kind of does some of that work and like is doing the best that they can with the circumstances of dealing with undiagnosed or diagnosed chronic illnesses. And you're always fighting your way through. And that mindset around fighting your way through is making you feel like this is harder, this is impossible, this is not gonna happen for me. And the also the entrepreneur space of the conversation that we hear so much is like, you gotta pay your dues. So those two like words are those two phrases like lend to this like never-ending, like, when are you doing enough? When have what you have been doing created success, right? And it's so interesting when I think about this with my clients and even with myself, it's like we don't realize that we're already successful. So I had a real big aha moment with my coach. And if you guys don't know, I work with DL Sharon, like amazing, but she's my sales coach and we really talk about different topics and things like that inside of the program I'm in with her. And she asked me a question and I thought it was so funny because I asked a similar question to my clients. But the question she asked me is like, where am I already successful? And the question that I asked my clients is, what if where you are right now is enough, right? It's enough to increase your prices. It's enough to offer a different offer. It's enough to demand that clients meet you at a certain time or date. It's enough already. Where are you already enough, right? Where are you already enough to do the thing that you think you're not ready to do, or to set the boundary where you think you're not ready to set? Where are you already enough, right? Where are you already successful as my coach And that question for me, like, real talk, I had to think about that. I could not answer her because I, as chronic illness warriors, there's something I have come to understand. There is some level of perfectionism, also some level of being high achievers even through pain, hence the, oh, I got to fight my way through thoughts that we don't even realize that once we've accomplished something, that that was a big deal. We don't even realize it because we are comparing it to what we believe it should have been. Like, it should have been easier, and because it wasn't easier, then we're not good enough. And because it was harder, we're still not good at— like, there's no winning ground with our mindset. So we keep going into loops of, I'm not enough, basically. I don't— I haven't done enough. I— there's no success for me at all. This is why I'm still stuck. And it is so important for us to kind of think about this in the context of how am I already enough and successful now, just, just like I mentioned. So I was thinking about this and I was like really looking for evidence. So one of the things I talk about a lot with my clients, with my coaching clients, is like, how do you find the evidence to back up what you don't believe right now, right? Like, so I was having trouble of believing that I was successful. Like, I'm like, I'm not there yet. And for a while, like, I'm gonna grab my journal real quick. For the past, um, couple, like, for the past month or so, I think I've been journaling. You're gonna hear the pages of my journal real quick because I lost the page. I've been journaling on how am I already successful. And I recommend all of you do this. All of you do this. And this kind of aligns with something I call the confidence card for my clients. And then the confidence card, we're kind of creating like an itemized list of things you have done, and then we're calculating value and time, all of that jazz. But for me, I just needed to like write down how have I already been a success towards taking care of myself or contributing to my family and other people. How am I already successful for that? Because I didn't believe that I was. And I wrote this list and I continue to like add to it every single day. And it's crazy, like, I have clients. I have helped over literal like 20 women specifically in my coaching business in the last couple of years, like, go from A— like, go from A to B or from A to Z. I have been able to fill in financially for my family at different points in my life, in my art business, in my from my business. I have coaches to support me in my business. That was something that I wanted so badly, right? Because I knew that if I was going to be a coach, I would want coaches to support me. I have multiple. I have the time freedom and flexibility that I need and crave because of living with chronic illness and having ups and downs and just knowing my body really well. I needed that. I have that. Like I have a schedule. My clients just come in, they work based on what the schedule is. I don't really even— I used to have a lot of fear around like, well, what if I, if I only gave them these amount of days, they're probably not going to be able to get what they need. I have yet to have an instance where I've had to like really alter my schedule for any client ever, really, because they've just worked in my routine. They worked into my life. I get to show up in a way that honors where I am now. Like, I can show up and have a podcast and do it from bed. I can show up from wherever I want to. Like, there's so much freedom and flexibility in that. That's how I'm already successful. I have literally had a business my whole journey of living with chronic illness, whether I knew it was chronic illness or not. Like, especially since I, you know, once I got married— you guys know, if you don't know that, there's probably going to be a link in the show notes to like more stories about back in the day when I didn't know what I had. And I still have things that I deal with today that are chronic. But for the last 14 years, I have always had an entrepreneur business and I have always been able to sell in that business. Maybe it's not as well as I sell now, but I have always been able to do that. So much so, I've made over $100,000 in some way, shape, or form, like selling $100,000 six figures while not knowing how I feel, not going in and out of the hospital, like, um, being told that I'm crazy, like all of these different things. I have literally built businesses, I have gotten certifications, I had a real estate business, I had my real estate certification, I, um, had my photography business, as you guys know I talk about, um, I had like MLM businesses where I had teams that I would work with that were on my team, quote unquote. Like, I have done amazing things living with chronic illness, right? So I am already the coach that I am aspiring to be. Like, I'm already— I possess all of the qualities that I need right now, and I will continue to grow in those things. But I have everything I need right now to continue to grow. I already know how to market. I already know how to sell because I've done it. I've done it in all the different ways and have helped my, my clients do it too. And I already know how to coach because I've been coaching literally my whole life. You can ask all my friends from when I was a teenager, literally they'll be like, Nikita was mama, she would call us out. This is all truth. I already have everything I need and it doesn't have to be so hard. Where are you believing that for yourself? Where has chronic illness— how— where have we allowed like chronic illness to steal what we are capable of, right? Like, we sometimes feel very limited and stuck in our situation because of not having a diagnosis or not having, quote unquote, a cure. But in so many other ways, you are amazing and enough and have everything you need to get to where you want to be. There might be some mind drama and all mindset. This is why you invest coaching, but you have it already. Like paying your dues, you paid them, they're up. Like you don't have to quote unquote fight your way through. Like there's a mentality when you're living with chronic illness and you don't have a diagnosis, we get used to the habit and I do believe it's a habit of like pushing through, we fighting our way through and then we get to a point like, for example, for me now I have amazing tools to help me through flare-ups and things like that. And there are times I will find myself, I gotta fight my way through, I gotta push my way through. And I'm like, why? I have all the tools right here to make this easier. So where are you not leaning into your awesome self? Chronic illness, as Janae from one of the chronic illness communities I'm a part of— she has a book of all of you not It's a part of you, not all of you. Chronic illness is a part of you. It is not all of you. And also, if you've been living with chronic illness your whole life or just a portion of it, what have you done and accomplished already that shows and gives proof that you can, that you are already on your way to success? You are already successful in so many beautiful ways. So I wanted to share this thought with you. I want you to take up space. I want you to get curious with yourself and like, how am I already successful? How have I already paid my dues? Right? Because that is so important. So I cannot wait to hear what you share with me in this. And a takeaway that I want you to have is like, literally, when you are thinking about working with a coach and you're thinking, she's going to fix everything. How about you shift into the thought of she's going to help me intensify or leverage what I already am capable of? Right? Like, that's a different mindset. That's a different approach to approaching your business and your life to be like, you know what? I have what I need. I just need to maybe learn how to use these tools, my success, my weaknesses, in a way to leverage to where I want to go faster with ease. You don't got to fight your way through, right? And that's why I coach. That's why I get coached, is because we don't have to do this alone. And we, and we absolutely don't have to be living in the thought that we don't know. Or we can't because of whatever things that we feel means that we're not enough. Like, you are enough 100% and your dues are paid and you don't got to fight through. So with that done and said on my little— I don't even know what you call it— like on my little rant, I guess you will. I hope you take this episode and look for evidence of you already being enough, of you already being successful. And what, what would you do differently if you believed you were already successful? Sorry, that's Zoe. What would you do if you already believe that? I'd love to hear if this episode connected with you or made something click for you. And I'd love to work with you. You know, these are topics that my clients and I work through and talk about, and this looks like a little different for everyone. Like, for real, like, I have my own challenges, hence why I have multiple coaches. But I am only— like, the things that I've— the things that I'm learning through coaching is the ways that I'm already successful and the ways that I already have what I have. And sometimes the pain, sometimes the mindset and trauma drama blinds me to some of that. But you have a lot of those solutions. And to me, as a coach, that's my job, is to help you find your own solutions because you already have it. So, for example, I had a client recently who was like, yeah, I used to do this Pomodoro Effect method, which is a time thing that I was recommending for her to do. And somewhere in her journey she stopped doing it, right? And I asked her why and what was the reasons why. And she realized it had a lot to do with this thought, like, I got to fight through, I got to push through. And we reframed it. And now we have— are working on a new way to create an intentional model of how do you want to be and feel in your body while you're doing things? How do you want to honor your body? How do you want to honor your, your goals and the way you want to get to your definition of future success? Because you are already successful now. So such a powerful thing when you can have a coach kind of bring out to you the blind spots or ask you the questions that you aren't asking of yourself so that you can tap into your most confident you and clear you to get to where you want to go faster. And that's my goal, to help my clients to get to making $2,000 with ease is based on being more clear and confident in their ability to do that for themselves. I love it. That's what I love to do. Okay, so if you are looking and wanting and you're ready and you're like, Nikita, I'm so ready, I'm so ready to stop getting in my own way. I'm so ready to embrace that I am successful. I'm ready for strategy. I'm ready for the mindset drama I need to overcome. I'd love for you to join me and book a sales call. Just book a sales call. The link is in my show notes and I'll be there ready for you. And we can talk about all those different things that we need to do because it's not all the little things. It's so simple. I can make it so much easier for you to get to where you want to go because you already have what you have in you to do it. I'm just like shining a light on it and then you can get there. And I hope this episode helps you to remember that. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You are crafted to thrive. All right, y'all, that's a wrap. Thank you for listening. And I hope this conversation inspired you. Be sure to visit the website at craftedtothrive.com to check out the show notes and grab all the goodies that I or the guests mentioned in the show. Join us for our next one. In the meantime, remember, you are crafted to thrive.